New caregivers walked the halls of the Pasteur hospital in Cherbourg this Monday, May 2. Interns who begin the second semester of their seventh year of medicine with a new internship. Only, according to our information, they do not jostle at the Emergency Department of Cherbourg.
The service was however “rather well off two or three years ago, with around twenty interns”recalls Pascal Carretey, departmental secretary of the Autonomous Federation of Hospital Public Service (FAFPH). They are only a handful to have chosen the Emergencies of the Cotentin Public Hospital Center (CHPC) for this second half of 2022.
Despite the reorganizations, the Emergencies remain under tension
This augurs some complications for the organization as interns do valuable work “from first contact with the patient, first examinations and first diagnosis”, describes the union official. They will therefore be less likely to oil the wheels a service that sees some 140 people pass through on average per day, to the point that since the beginning of the year, admissions are screened by SAMU operators at night.
This reorganization bears witness to the difficulties facing the service. Because faced with this influx, there are not enough doctors. According to the last count of the unions, by adding the forces present, there is the equivalent of eight full-time doctors instead of 25 for optimal operation. A situation that medical students know.
A student from this promotion of interns summarizes:
When you see we’ll be understaffed, you don’t choose this internship
Especially since the lack of doctors affects the follow-up of these students. Pascal Carretey confirms: “They want to be supervised, to learn things. The fact that the supervision is less relevant, this place of internship becomes less important than another”while the CHPC is, in the eyes of the caregiver, “a very interesting place, because interns have to deal with a lot of situations”. But the conditions of exercise would not be engaging enough, between this lack of follow-up and the frantic pace of the Emergencies in this delicate context.
The departmental secretary of the Autonomous Federation of the public hospital service deplores “a vicious circle” where the service suffers from a lack of personnel which dissuades certain caregivers from coming to reinforce the ranks. Result: the organization of the structure is further weakened. Pascal Carretey continues:
We will have to make the connection with temporary workers or volunteers. But I have doubts about our ability to function only with temporary workers. We must recruit in a sustainable way, otherwise it could become difficult for the population of Nord-Cotentin.
This summer, the hospital could also welcome students who have just passed the internship competition. They would strengthen the teams before starting their future internships, but with, inevitably, a little less experience than the other interns. The hospital center can therefore activate several levers to adjust the workforce and prepare to manage the summer as well as possible. in this complex period, where the margin seems thin.
If the Ségur de la Santé granted some 21 million euros to deleverage the institution and restore its investment capacity, the hospital will have to take care of its image and working conditions to attract and retain young professionals, the trade unionist believes. Given the tense context in the Emergency Department, management did not wish to speak.